As an architect, Jim Lammers ’70GSAPP specialized in building medical facilities. Now the Minnesota resident uses the freehand drawing skills he honed at Columbia to capture whimsical views of interesting structures from his travels. Lammers’s recent book Lighthouses of the Great Lakes features original renderings of that endlessly romanticized maritime beacon. “Lighthouses are just fascinating to me,” says Lammers, who visited and sketched 130 of them on the Great Lakes, including the Thames River Rear Range Lighthouse (above). “They have similarities from place to place, but each has its own character.”
“The 1818 Presque Isle Lighthouse in Erie, Pennsylvania, was the first American lighthouse on the Great Lakes. It was replaced by the present structure in 1873. I like how the rectangular shapes of the tower and dwellings create a Mondrian-like composition.”
“The 1870 Cana Island Lighthouse in Wisconsin has an awesomely tall tower — eighty-nine feet. I was so impressed that I exaggerated the height a bit.”
“Ontario’s Burlington Canal Main Lighthouse was built in 1857 using dolomite limestone after the original structure burned down. It was the first Canadian lighthouse to burn coal oil instead of whale oil.”
